Filipino inventors and their inventions

Modular Housing Inventor

Edgardo Vazquez won a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) gold medal in 1995 for
developing a modular housing system. Such a system called Vazbuilt is reportedly capable of
building within weeks a house with prefabricated materials that can withstand typhoons and
earthquakes. Ironically, Vasquez is not getting enough support from the Philippine government to
propagate his technology, which could help provide shelter to some five million Filipino families
without their own homes. Vazquez is the national president of the Filipino Inventors Society.

He Discovered Erythromycin
A Filipino scientist reportedly discovered erythromycin in 1949. He was Dr. Abelardo Aguilar who
died in 1993 without being recognized and rewarded for his discovery. Reports said Aguilar
discovered the antibiotic from the Aspergillus species of fungi in 1949 and sent samples to
Indiana-based pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly Co. The drug firm allegedly registered the propriety
name Iloson for the antibiotic in honor of Iloilo province where Aguilar discovered it. In 1952, Eli
Lilly Co. began the commercial distribution of Iloson, which was sold as an alternative to penicillin.
Erythromycin, the generic name of Iloson, was reportedly the first successful macrolide antibiotic
introduced in the US.

Fluorescent Lamp Inventor

Agapito Flores as the inventor of the fluorescent lamp, which is the most widely used source of
lighting in the world today.According to Filipino scientists, fluorescent lamp was not named after
Flores. The term fluorescence first cropped up as early as 1852 when English mathematician-
physicist George Gabriel Stokes discovered a luminous material called "fluorspar", which he coined
with "escence". The National Academy of Science and Technology also dismissed Flores being the
inventor of fluorescent lamp as a myth. "No scientific report, no valid statement, no rigorous
documents can be used to credit Flores for the discovery of the fluorescent lamp. We have tried to
correct this misconception, but the media (for one) and our textbooks (for another) keep using
the Flores example," a Filipino scientist wrote in her column at the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Moleremover
In 2000, Rolando dela Cruz developed an ingenuous formula that could easily remove deeply
grown moles or warts from the skin without leaving marks or hurting the patient. His formula was
extracted from cashew nut (Annacardium occidentale), which is common in the Philippines. The
formula won for dela Cruz a gold medal in International Invention, Innovation, Industrial Design
and Technology Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur in September 2000. In March 1997, dela Cruz
established RCC Amazing Touch International Inc., which runs clinics engaged "in a non-surgical
removal of warts, moles and other skin growths, giving the skin renewed energy and vitality
without painful and costly surgery."

“Tubigtalino”
The Department of Science and Technology claimed that it has developed "Tubig Talino", an
iodine-rich drinking water that treats micronutrient deficiencies responsible for goiter, mental and
physical retardation, and birth defects. "Tubig Talino" is actually a mixture of 20 liters of water and
15 ml of "Water Plus + I2". Consumption of five glasses a day of this iodine fortification in drinking
water is expected to provide 120 micrograms of iodine, which meets 100 percent of the
recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of a male adult.